Nucleic acid has been used in various forms in various fields. In the field of recombinant nucleic acid art, for example, it is demanded that nucleic acid is used in forms of probe, genomic nucleic acid and plasmid nucleic acid.
Nucleic acid is used in various forms for various objects in the field of diagnosis as well. For example, nucleic acid probe is routinely used for diagnosis and detection of human pathogen. In addition, nucleic acid is used for detection of genetic disorder and detection of food-polluting substances as well. Further, nucleic acid is routinely used in confirmation of position, identification and isolation of predetermined nucleic acid for various purposes such as preparation of genetic map, cloning and gene expression by genetic recombination.
In many cases however, nucleic acid is available only in a very limited amount and its operation for isolation and purification is troublesome and much time is needed therefor. Such a time-consuming troublesome step has a problem that it is apt to result in loss of nucleic acid. In addition, in the case of purification of nucleic acid from a sample obtained from serum, urine and culture of bacteria, there is a problem that contamination is generated resulting in a pseudo-positive result.
As one of the methods for isolating and purifying a nucleic acid in an easy and efficient manner solving the above-mentioned problems, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003/128,691 discloses a method using a solution in which nucleic acid is adsorbed with a solid phase and a solution in which nucleic acid is desorbed from the solid phase, in which nucleic acid is adsorbed and desorbed, respectively, with and from the solid phase comprising an organic macromolecule having hydroxyl groups on the surface, whereby nucleic acid is isolated and purified.